Map Properties

The Map Properties window determines general settings for the level.

Nexus Size The engine nexus memory size in MB that is required for the script. If the project contains several levels, enter here the size for the biggest of them. The nexus value is used for the Run and Preview functions and is permanently stored in the executable when publishing a project. For allowing your project to run on normal PCs, don't exceed 300 MB.
Mesh Size  A7  Threshold value for a group to be compiled as a single mesh (like the Single Mesh flag in Group Properties). Use this option to optimize the rendering speed of levels. Most 3D cards achieve the best performance when rendering meshes of about 1000 polygons.  !!  Note that this option will create concave blocks, so you need to activate Create Meshes for compiling.
Palette

The color palette used for all 8-bit palettized images in the level. The palette is taken from any 8-bit PCX or BMP file, or from a RAW file automatically generated by the build process. All 8-bit images must be adapted to it. All colors are RGB values in the 0..255 range. If you don't use 8-bit images, you don't need to enter a palette here.

Script

Select, create, or remove the script used by the Run Level function. The level must been given a name by Save As.. before you can create a script for it. The script file must be located in the work folder. Script names must not be longer than 15 characters and must not contain spaces or nonstandard characters. If there's no script, the level is run in the default preview mode.
When clicking the 'New Script' icon, a requester will pop up allows to select between several predefined script templates. For details about the templates, see 'Project Manager'.

Block Type Select convex or concave blocks for your level. When set at 'concave', no warning message will appear when blocks are distorted by Vertex Move operations. BSP maps require convex blocks except for detail blocks.
Fog Set the four fog colors available per level. The values given here can be read by the engine through the d3d_fogcolor vectors. Fog is either activated globally by script through the fog_color variable, or locally in level regions where a fog number 1..5 is applied to the albedo value of the surfaces.
Sun

Set the sun brightness and color, ambient color, and sun azimuth and elevation. Sun light is emitted by the sky box around the level and creates static shadows in open areas. The ambient color is added to all surfaces, thus giving brightness to level parts that would otherwise be completely in the dark.

 !!  If nonzero values are set for the sun or ambient color, they are copied on level loading into the engine's sun_color and ambient_color vectors, and thus are used not only for WED's static lightmaps but also for the engine's dynamic sun and ambient lighting. If the map sun or ambient values are zero, the engine vectors keep their default values - so the level is dynamically lit. Thus, for a dark and unlit level, set the colors not to 0 but to 1,1,1. If the sun_color and ambient_color vectors are also set to zero in the script, the level is pitch black (unless other static or dynamic light sources are set). The sun angles are copied into the sun_angle vector.

A script is only required for the first level of your game. If you want to program the script yourself, select Empty Script. Otherwise, select the game genre for using a predefined template script. The options in the Create Script panel are taken from the main template scripts in the template_6 folder. You can add your own script templates to template_6 for letting them appear as options in the requester.

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